Dietrich is eager to lead Cal State Fullerton forward
FULLERTON >> Cal State Fullerton put in a call to the bullpen for its new baseball coach.
Jason Dietrich, who was the pitching coach for the Titans from 2013 to 2016, was officially named the sixth head coach in program history during an introductory news conference on Wednesday afternoon at Goodwin Field. He was hired away from East Carolina, where he helped the Pirates reach the 2021 NCAA Super Regionals as their pitching coach.
Unlike predecessors George Horton, Dave Serrano and Rick Vanderhook, who played and coached at Fullerton before becoming Titan head coaches, Dietrich didn’t cross paths with the Titans until he earned his bachelor’s degree at Fullerton in 1999, after his playing career ended.
But he checks all the other boxes, most notably as a potential cure for an ailing pitching staff.
His four years as the Fullerton pitching coach were hugely successful, with team ERAs of 2.47, 2.23, 2.89 and 2.22 from 2013 to 2016, the last mark leading the nation. Four pitchers from those teams are in the major leagues — Thomas Eshelman (Baltimore), Justin Garza (Cleveland), Michael Lorenzen (Cincinnati) and Phil Bickford (Dodgers).
“I am extremely thrilled to welcome Jason back to Cal State Fullerton as the new head baseball coach,” CSF Athletic Director Jim Donovan said. “It became very clear after talking to several of our amazing alumni that Jason is the perfect person to lead this great program in the right direction. He will not only lead the program to success on the field but will demand excellence from our student-athletes in the classroom.”
Fullerton’s slump the last three seasons can be traced to the mound. The 2019 team went 27-26 with a 4.81 ERA and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991. The abbreviated 2020 season saw a 4-12 record and a 4.78 ERA. The stunning 20-35 record in 2021 was marked by a team ERA of 6.01 and a ninth-place finish in the 11team Big West Conference.
Dietrich has been known as a pitching guru since he broke into coaching, and his cell phone is loaded with at least 500 unanswered texts of congratulations from former coaches and players.
“There’s a passionate fan base here that is used to success,” Dietrich said. “I know what it was like here those four seasons (201316) when we filled this place each night. There’s a tradition of Titan baseball I want to embrace and show the nation what that’s all about.”
Dietrich was raised in Garden Grove, attended Mater Dei High and led Santa Ana College to the 1993 California State Junior College title. In 1994, he had a team-best 1.66 ERA at Pepperdine.
He went into coaching after four years in the Colorado Rockies’ organization and doesn’t need GPS assistance navigating the region. He coached at Arcadia High, L.A. City College, Irvine Valley College and Cal State L.A. before a move to the Division I level at UC Irvine under Mike Gillespie in 2008. In his five seasons with Gillespie, the Anteaters went to the NCAA tournament five times.
Former Titans coach Horton hired Dietrich away in 2017 to assist at Oregon, and Dietrich spent the last two seasons at East Carolina. The Pirates went 4417 this past season and won their four-team regional before being beaten by Vanderbilt twice in the super regional, 4-1 and 2-0.
“I’ve worked with a lot of great coaches in my career, and (Vanderhook) gave me a chance here and those were four special years,” Dietrich said. “I made a lot of good relationships then that still exist today.”
Dietrich said he did get a phone call from Eshelman this week, and an extended upbeat voice mail from Titans legend Phil Nevin, now the third base coach for the New York Yankees.
“He said the alumni were excited,” Dietrich said. “I’m pretty excited myself.”
No decision has been made on a coaching staff. The top returnee from the 2021 roster is Caden Connor, an outfielder who batted .325 and led the team in RBIs as a freshman.